Police on Friday arrested one of the nine people charged with a total of 414 counts of racketeering, promoting gambling and money laundering in connection with Products Direct Sweepstakes gaming machines.
An Oahu grand jury returned the sealed indictment Thursday, but online court records showed the charges and identified the defendants as eight men and one woman. On Friday afternoon police arrested at least one.
Eugene Morris Simeona Jr., 42, of Kaneohe turned himself in at the main police station and was arrested on 19 counts of possession of a gambling device, 15 counts of second-degree promoting gambling, three counts of money laundering, three counts of illegal operation of a business and one count of first-degree promoting gambling. His bail was set at $200,000.
Illegal ownership of a business is a Class B felony, punishable by 10 years in prison; first-degree promoting gambling is a Class C felony, punishable by five years in prison; money laundering is a felony of various classes; and the other charges are misdemeanors.
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9
Number of people indicted in connection with sweepstakes machines
414
Total criminal counts, including racketeering, promoting gambling, money laundering
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Attorney Keith Kiuchi identified those indicted as Tracy Yoshimura, owner of PJY Enterprises, a distributor of the Products Direct Sweepstakes machine; Simeona and Mike Miller, who own stores where police seized sweepstakes machines in February 2013; and six clerks who were working at arcades.
Kiuchi said some of those indicted were his clients in a lawsuit against the city seeking the return of Products Direct Sweepstakes machines seized by police in raids between September 2012 and February 2013. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that those machines are illegal.
After the ruling, Yoshimura began shutting down the machines, Kiuchi said.
"We did not expect this," Kiuchi said by phone. "We’re going to vigorously defend against this oppressive indictment."
Kiuchi said Yoshimura’s bail was set at $250,000 that and he was planning to turn himself in and post bail.
Kiuchi said police have seized more than 100 of the machines from arcades since September 2012. The machines operated by selling customers discount coupons for products that could be purchased off a website. Along with the purchase, customers received free entries into a sweepstakes with a chance to win larger cash prizes. The federal judge ruled the coupons were not being used by customers, showing that they were paying for the chance to win more cash.
Kiuchi said his client presented his business plan to government authorities 21⁄2 years ago, but at that time authorities did not say the machines were illegal.
A spokesman for the Honolulu prosecutor’s office said he could not comment because of a court order.
